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Tag Archives: audiobook

All Broke Down (Rusk University #2) by Cora CarmackRelease Date: October 28, 2014Publisher: William Morrow PaperbacksSource: Audio from libraryRating: (3.5)Buy It:Amazon | IndieBound

In life, you can’t only fight for what you believe in . . .sometimes you have to fight for what you love

Dylan fights for lost causes. Probably because she used to be one.

Environmental issues, civil rights, education—you name it, she’s probably been involved in a protest. When her latest cause lands her in jail for a few hours, she meets Silas Moore. He’s in for a different kind of fighting. And though he’s arrogant and not at all her type, she can’t help being fascinated with him.

Yet another lost cause.

Football and trouble are the only things that have ever come naturally to Silas. And it’s trouble that lands him in a cell next to do-gooder Dylan. He’s met girls like her before—fixers, he calls them, desperate to heal the damage and make him into their ideal boyfriend. But he doesn’t think he’s broken, and he definitely doesn’t need a girlfriend trying to change him. Until, that is, his anger issues and rash decisions threaten the only thing he really cares about, his spot on the Rusk University football team.

Dylan might just be the perfect girl to help.

Because Silas Moore needs some fixing after all. . – Goodreads

Review:

Silas didn’t have an easy life. He hasn’t seen his mother in 8 years and when he did see his mother it was always questionable if there would be a bed for him to sleep on. This is why when he sees his mother, he goes to a bar itching for a fight. In the first book in the Rusk University series, we learn that Silas is a bit of an asshole. If he wasn’t a bit of an asshole, he would have never met Dylan.Dylan is a do-gooder with a heart of gold that just wants to be seen. What the two have in common is they want a steady safe place in the world. To feel loved for being themselves. The thing is Carmack wrote All Broke Down and used very little to no tropes and it was glorious. Silas was an asshole in All Lined Up he could have easily been one here, but instead he was humanized and I enjoyed that evolution.

Silas always feels like a fuck up. His past. His present. His future. And Dylan makes him feel like a fuck up. The problem is Dylan didn’t mean to, Dylan’s brain just doesn’t stop thinking. Silas’ brain does the same thing, but in a completely different way. He’s hidden his past from everyone and he fears what this means for his future. He fears being a fuck up but while fearing that, he fucks up. A lot. Silas has not much going for him, all he has is the team and he’s on the verge of fucking that up too.

Dylan doesn’t want to be a fuck up either. As an adopted child, she fears that they will regret adopting her and she worries about that. This was the first Carmack book that I’ve read that I really got into and the one I really had problems putting down or stopping (since I was listening to it as an audiobook). I was also intrigued how Carmack ended the book because she showed she doesn’t hide away from important issues.

An unforgettable new series from acclaimed author Katie McGarry about taking risks, opening your heart and ending up in a place you never imagined possible.

Seventeen-year-old Emily likes her life the way it is: doting parents, good friends, good school in a safe neighborhood. Sure, she’s curious about her biological father—the one who chose life in a motorcycle club, the Reign of Terror, over being a parent—but that doesn’t mean she wants to be a part of his world. But when a reluctant visit turns to an extended summer vacation among relatives she never knew she had, one thing becomes clear: nothing is what it seems. Not the club, not her secret-keeping father and not Oz, a guy with suck-me-in blue eyes who can help her understand them both.

Oz wants one thing: to join the Reign of Terror. They’re the good guys. They protect people. They’re…family. And while Emily—the gorgeous and sheltered daughter of the club’s most respected member—is in town, he’s gonna prove it to her. So when her father asks him to keep her safe from a rival club with a score to settle, Oz knows it’s his shot at his dream. What he doesn’t count on is that Emily just might turn that dream upside down.

No one wants them to be together. But sometimes the right person is the one you least expect, and the road you fear the most is the one that leads you home. – Goodreads

Review:
Katie McGarry seems to be one of the IT authors of YA literature so I decided it was finally time that I read her. Thankfully my library is starting to get the audiobooks for McGarry on Overdrive, which makes my lazy live easier.

Nowhere But Here works as an audiobook as it is told from two narrators. Emily and Oz. Emily and Oz have nothing in common but a motorcycle club. Emily’s sperm donor, Eli, is part of the club and Oz wants to be part of the club. Emily considers her mother’s husband to be her father and calls him that. Oz loathes Emily because he sees Eli being pulled away from the MC, The Reign of Terror, and he hates that because to Oz, Reign of Terror is family.

“Dad is my Dad and Eli is Eli”

Oz and Emily have a lot more in common then they are aware of. For example, they both are really good at judging people before they know them. While this is human nature, when the two of them do it, it reads young.

As Nowhere But Here goes on, it is seen that Emily doesn’t know everything about her past and Oz and the club are able to fill in some of the gaps. This is compounded on the fact that Emily gets separated from her parents when a rival club tried to hurt Emily. Eli doesn’t stand for that and starts to protect her. Emily of course doesn’t want his protection. She just wants her family and not a life that is a TV show.

The thing is, Eli is not the asshole Emily has been lead to believe. Eli is constantly trying and Emily doesn’t understand why he’s trying. Or why he cares. Emily is very into her little bubble and not looking on the outside of said bubble because she’s always right, right? Emily also realizes that her life has been built on many lies and worries about asking her mother because will her mother just continue to lie?

What Emily also doesn’t expect is the sexual attraction to Oz and this goes for Oz, too. Emily is everything that isn’t his normal type and there is electricity in the air. This book took forever to grow on me. At about 85% and I finally started to enjoy this book. The secrets finally opened up and things began to make sense. This book has characters that, if they would just talk, their problems would be solved (which is the problem in most YA books, lets be real.)

While I enjoy the family aspect of the book (LOVED) I didn’t enjoy the fact that Emily not once felt real to me. She felt one-dimensional and never felt like a real human being to me. I guess ultimately, I expected more from my first McGarry book.

Princess Winter is admired by the Lunar people for her grace and kindness, and despite the scars that mar her face, her beauty is said to be even more breathtaking than that of her stepmother, Queen Levana.

Winter despises her stepmother, and knows Levana won’t approve of her feelings for her childhood friend—the handsome palace guard, Jacin. But Winter isn’t as weak as Levana believes her to be and she’s been undermining her stepmother’s wishes for years. Together with the cyborg mechanic, Cinder, and her allies, Winter might even have the power to launch a revolution and win a war that’s been raging for far too long.

This is a hard book to review due to the fact that it is the fourth book in a series. Can you review a fourth book without discussing the first three? Winter is the epic conclusion to The Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer. It is the final book that ties together all of those loose ends that didn’t seem important throughout the first three books. Those little moments now became important. While I wished I had time to do a re-read before I read Winter that just wasn’t possible; thankfully Meyer as usual does an excellent job of recapping without feeling like I was recapped.

What is daunting about Winter is the size. As an audiobook it is 21 segments –most YA books are 9-12. This is a beast that while listening to, I thought was never going to end. It constantly Even though the physical book is smaller than Cress due to page thickness. Publishing! Crazy world!

The thing with Winter and The Lunar Chronicles is that I struggled with most of the series. I did not get the flailing and the hype that the blogging community did. I found Winter to be a solid end to a meh series. While the first book, Cinder, set off this series for me, I found the middle two (Scarlet and Cress– three –if you count Fairest) to be..okay. They were action filled, but I found them to be a bit long and tedious and Winter at almost 900 pages is a reminder of that. While listening to an audiobook, at 2x, I was shocked to find out that I was still moving through the book slowly At points I thought I was close to done I was moving along at a glacious pace.While Meyer is a strong writer and doesn’t hide from twists, turns, and action I do believe that a good portion of the novel could have been cut without missing anything.

This isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy the book. I did! But like the previous books, I expected more from it. I honestly think the hype of the book got to me. I really wish I could enjoy this series as much as everyone else does.I do find it to be a fitting end to the series that I came to read, but still I expected something..more.

What I Thought Was True by Huntley FitzpatrickRelease Date: April 15, 2014Publisher: Dial Books for Young ReadersSource: Audio from library!Rating: (2.5)Buy It:Amazon | IndieBound

From the acclaimed author of My Life Next Door comes a swoony summertime romance full of expectation and regret, humor and hard questions.

Gwen Castle has never so badly wanted to say good-bye to her island home till now: the summer her Biggest Mistake Ever, Cassidy Somers, takes a job there as the local yard boy. He’s a rich kid from across the bridge in Stony Bay, and she hails from a family of fishermen and housecleaners who keep the island’s summer people happy. Gwen worries a life of cleaning houses will be her fate too, but just when it looks like she’ll never escape her past—or the island—Gwen’s dad gives her some shocking advice. Sparks fly and secret histories unspool as Gwen spends a gorgeous, restless summer struggling to resolve what she thought was true—about the place she lives, the people she loves, and even herself—with what really is.

A magnetic, push-you-pull-me romance with depth, this is for fans of Sarah Dessen, Jenny Han, and Deb Caletti. – Goodreads

Review:

I love Gwen. I am Gwen. Most of my friends are Gwen. Gwen is snarky, she’s full of love, mistakes. She’s messy, but she’s real. What I Thought Was True is also full of family and family love. While Fitzpatrick’s novels take place in the universe they are not required to be read in order, they do however all convey the same feels.

What I Thought Was True is the story of the haves vs the have-nots. Gwen is a have not. She’s the daughter of a cleaner and a fisherman. She’s not embarrassed of this fact, she loves her family. But what she’s aware of is those who live on the island are those that have. What I love about FItzpatrick is the fact that she doesn’t shy away from sex or discussing sex. It isn’t taboo, it’s also realistically talked about and not frowned upon or shamed.

Unfortunatley though What I Thought Was True fell flat for me. About half way through the audiobook, I knew if I was reading this I would start to skim. It was going a tad too slow for me to really be involved. I just wanted more? I wanted it to end? I’m not sure. I wanted more of the magic I had in the beginning chapters. The spark died on me.

Huntley Fitzpatrick often gets compared to Sarah Dessen and as I’ve finished my third Fitzpatrick novel, I understand. I also want to make it clear that is not a bad thing. Authors all invoke certain things and this novel invokes those summer vacation feelings. What I Thought Was True is full of characters I love. It’s full of a snarky girl, it’s full of references to romance novels, it’s full of growth. I cannot wait to see what else comes from Fitzpatrick.

All the Ways to Ruin a Rogue (The Debutante Files #2) by Sophie JordanRelease Date: July 28, 2015Publisher: AvonSource: Audio from Library!Rating:Buy It:Amazon | IndieBound

There was once a lady who loathed a lord…

Lady Aurelia hasn’t always hated Max, Viscount Camden, her brother’s best friend. In fact, as a besotted girl, she thrived under his kind attention – sure that he was the most noble and handsome man in the land. Until her young heart discovered what manner of rogue he really was. Now, though she enjoys nothing more than getting on his last nerve, she can’t deny Max drives her to distraction—even if she tries to pretend otherwise.

…and a lord who was confounded by a lady.

Max cannot recall a time when Aurelia did not vex him. If she was not his friend’s sister, he would stay far away from the infuriating vixen. Unfortunately, they are always thrown together. At parties and family gatherings…she is always there. Infuriating him, tossing punch in his face, driving him mad…until one night, she goes too far and he retaliates in the only way he can: with a kiss that changes everything. – Goodreads

Review:

I’ve read my fair share of Sophie Jordan novels in the past year and while I haven’t found them to be spectacular, I have found them to be okay. While I wouldn’t search her work out, if I was searching for an audiobook and she was available I wouldn’t say no. That is how I ended up with All the Ways to Ruin a Rogue. What that doesn’t tell you is how delightful I found this novel. My favorite of hers that I have read so far!

All the Ways to Ruin a Rogue is an adorable historical novel about Aurelia and Max who have known each other from childhood. Although this makes it seem like a classic romance novel it’s more than that. Aurelia and Max spend a good portion of their lives actually hating each other with snark and banter to remind the reader of this. At times it’s painful, but at times it is hilarious leaving you wanting more.

The banter and snark throughout Aurelia and Max was real and hot. While others have viewed it as cruel and unnecessary I laugh because I have a lot of friendships like that. We’re not being mean, we’re just being us! These are not two perfect characters. They are not perfect by a long shot, but they’re in love and they made mistakes so it of course took them awhile to get there. It was just what I needed to read in that moment.

In the final Pink Carnation novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Mark of the Midnight Manzanilla, Napoleon has occupied Lisbon, and Jane Wooliston, aka the Pink Carnation, teams up with a rogue agent to protect the escaped Queen of Portugal.

Portugal, December 1807. Jack Reid, the British agent known as the Moonflower (formerly the French agent known as the Moonflower), has been stationed in Portugal and is awaiting his new contact. He does not expect to be paired with a woman—especially not the legendary Pink Carnation.

All of Portugal believes that the royal family departed for Brazil just before the French troops marched into Lisbon. Only the English government knows that mad seventy-three-year-old Queen Maria was spirited away by a group of loyalists determined to rally a resistance. But as the French garrison scours the countryside, it’s only a matter of time before she’s found and taken.

It’s up to Jane to find her first and ensure her safety. But she has no knowledge of Portugal or the language. Though she is loath to admit it, she needs the Moonflower. Operating alone has taught her to respect her own limitations. But she knows better than to show weakness around the Moonflower—an agent with a reputation for brilliance, a tendency toward insubordination, and a history of going rogue.. – Goodreads

Review:

The Lure of the Moonflower is everything I wanted from the last book in a series, any series. But the last book in the Pink Carnation was bittersweet for me. I’ve read this series since the beginning and I’m in denial about the fact that it was ending. That being said Willig shined throughout this last book. Her writing has grown leaps and bounds since the first book and that is highlighted throughout The Lure of the Moonflower.

While it wasn’t an easy read, the characters of the past, Jack and Jane and the characters of the present, Colin and Eloise flowed together effortlessly for a satisfying conclusion. This was also the book that many was waiting for. We’ve known about Jane since the beginning and finally she was getting her own book! Jack and Jane have a lot of walls up and don’t want to work with each other. Slowly while working together, they of course fall for each other; however, I want to make it clear, not once did it feel forced. The romance always felt real as well as the mystery. While historical novels don’t always work for me (I’ve just fallen in love with them in the past year) this series has always worked for me.

Because it’s always worked for me I really am sad to see it go. I’m going to miss these characters. I’ve grown used to Jane and Eloise and Colin. While the later two ending could be said that it’s a little too meta, it worked for me extremely well and felt in character. I cannot wait to see what Willig does next, even if it is not with these characters.

Bridge is an accident survivor who’s wondering why she’s still alive. Emily has new curves and an almost-boyfriend who wants a certain kind of picture. Tabitha sees through everybody’s games–or so she tells the world. The three girls are best friends with one rule: No fighting. Can it get them through seventh grade?
This year everything is different for Sherm Russo as he gets to know Bridge Barsamian. What does it mean to fall for a girl–as a friend?
On Valentine’s Day, an unnamed high school girl struggles with a betrayal. How long can she hide in plain sight?– Goodreads

Review:

If your friendship has a rule of no fighting, can it really survive? Goodbye Stranger is a realistic portrayal of growth and friendship. Tab, or Tabitha, sees life as a game. There are rules to obey and that is it. Bridge, is the girl who shouldn’t be alive and sees life everyday as one in which she should not be here. And Emily is the girl who may have a boyfriend who is sending her random photos.

What Stead does in Goodbye Stranger is capture those emotions that carry you not only through middle grade, but also carry you through life. Not feeling like you belong. Being lost and confused. Stead also intertwines a mysterious narrator told through a second point-of-view and a classmate or the main trio named Sherm. What’s amazing about Goodbye Stranger is how well these multiple point of views work. Throughout Goodbye Stranger I was full of feelings and emotions that had me hanging on to every page.

These characters have a huge amount of growth throughout one year of their lives. Stead doesn’t make it easy on them, or ever have the characters “cop out.” I can’t say the characters felt the same throughout the novel, because there was so much change from the characters that by the end I liked them even more and when the story ended I was sad to say goodbye to my friends. I wanted more of them. I wanted more of this multicultural cast and the mysterious narrator who didn’t make herself known until it was the right moment.